The most common types of evidence collected from crime scenes are desktop computers and laptops, as most criminal activity involves a personal system. These devices have different operating systems running on them. In this task, we will discuss the evidence acquisition and analysis of the Windows operating system, which is a very common operating system that has been investigated in several cases.
As part of the data collection phase, forensic images of the Windows operating system are taken. These forensic images are bit-by-bit copies of the whole operating system. Two different categories of forensic images are taken from a Windows operating system.
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Disk image: The disk image contains all the data present on the storage device of the system (HDD, SSD, etc.). This data is non-volatile, meaning that the disk data would survive even after a restart of the operating system. For example, all the files like media, documents, internet browsing history, and more.
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Memory image: The memory image contains the data inside the operating system’s RAM. This memory is volatile, meaning the data will get lost after the system is powered off or restarted. For example, to capture open files, running processes, current network connections, etc., the memory image should be prioritized and taken first from the suspect’s operating system; otherwise, any restart or shutdown of the system would result in all the volatile data getting deleted. While carrying out digital forensics on a Windows operating system, disk and memory images are very important to collect.
Let’s discuss some popular tools used for disk and memory image acquisition and analysis of the Windows operating system.
FTK Imager: FTK Imager is a widely used tool for taking disk images of Windows operating systems. It offers a user-friendly graphical interface for creating the image in various formats. This tool can also analyze the contents of a disk image. It can be used for both acquisition and analysis purposes.
Autopsy: Autopsy is a popular open-source digital forensics platform. An investigator can import an acquired disk image into this tool, and the tool will conduct an extensive analysis of the image. It offers various features during image analysis, including keyword search, deleted file recovery, file metadata, extension mismatch detection, and many more.
DumpIt: DumpIt offers the utility of taking a memory image from a Windows operating system. This tool creates memory images using a command-line interface and a few commands. The memory image can also be taken in different formats.
Volatility: Volatility is a powerful open-source tool for analyzing memory images. It offers some extremely useful plugins. Each artifact can be analyzed using a specific plugin. This tool supports various operating systems, including Windows, Linux, macOS, and Android.
Note: Various other tools are also used to acquire and analyze disk and memory images of the Windows operating system.